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INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 

JOHN BARRE-TT. DIREICTOR 
FRANCISCO J. YANES. SECRETARY 



CACAO 



(Reprint of an article from the Monthly Bulletin of the International 
Bureau of American Republics, September, 1908) 




WASHINGTON, D. C. 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 



INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF AMERICAN REPUBLICS 

JOHN BARREITT. D I R El C T O R 
FRANCISCO J. ^'ANES, SECRETARY 



CACAO 



(Reprint of an article from the Monthly Bulletin of the International 
Bureau of American Republics, September, 1 908) 




WASHINGTON, D. C. 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1909 



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CACAO is the correct Avorcl to apply to a product which ranks 
with coffee and tea as a great and instinctive!}- selected 
stimulus in the dietary of man. By using this term cacao 
instead of the English one of cocoa, two advantages are 
gained : First, the word then becomes of universal apijlication, 
for cacao is the commercial and domestic term applied through- 
out Latin- America, it has been adopted in Europe since the days, 
of the earliest importation from the Xew AVorld. it is the naturalized 
expression wherever it is produced in the East Indies, and will be 
understood even in Japan, although it offers no rivalry there to the 
national and native tea : second, a confusion, unfortunately so preva- 
lent throughout the English-speaking world, will be avoided. Cocoa 
is apt to be confounded with coca, the plant of Peru which the 
Indians use to sustain them in their weary journeys across the 
momitains, and Avhich furnishes the drug (alkaloid) called cocaine 
in medicine; as a matter of fact cocaine and cacao are botanically 
quite different, and have nothing in common, a point that should 
be well known, because the fear that cocaine forms part of cocoa is 
entirely groundless. Cocoa is supposed also to be of the same family 
as the cocoanut. but here. too. the resemblance goes no further than 
the name, for the cocoanut is a palm and recjuires an altogether dif- 
ferent soil for its propagation. 

Chocolate, on the other hand, the ehoc-olatl of the Aztecs, is the 
original cacao. In the language of the aboriginal Mexicans it meant 

471 



472 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS. 

^vater — that is, ii drink — from choco, Avliich became under the Spanish 
tongue cacao. The Aztec name shows that the j^lant is distinctly 
American. It is indigenous to Mexico, Central America, and cer- 
tain areas of South America. The Emperor Montezuma was so 
fond of it that he had 50 jars of chocolate prepared for his own table 
and 2.000 more for that of his household. Its use among the 
people was so extensive that bags of cacao containing a certain num- 
ber of beans were current as money. The Spaniards carried a taste 
for the drink to Europe, and even to-day chocolate is considered a 
peculiarly Spanish drink. 




THE CACAO TREE, PODS ON THE TREE AND IN SECTIONS, AND THE BLOSSOM. 

/■ Cacao is essentially a tropical cultivation, and is known in countries 
situated both north and south of the line. On the north side of the 
equator the cacao countries are Ceylon, the Philippines, Cameroon, 
the Gold Coast, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Guianas, Salvador, Guate- 
mala, Venezuela, and the West India Islands: south of the equator 
the main cacao countries are Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, and parts of 
Africa with the adjacent islands. The extreme range of latitude 
is from 20° north to 20° south. Not only is the cultivation of cacao 
limited to these few^ degrees wdthin the Tropics, but it is usually a 
success onlv in those areas in which the altitude is very insignificant ; 



CACAO, 



473 



an elevation of between 200 meters and 800 meters (050 to 2,000 feet) 
marks the limits of the successful cacao plantations in this equatorial 
belt. In this respect it presents wide differences Avhen compared with 
tea, cinchona, camphor, and coffee, and certain similarity in environ- 
ment to the cocoanut jDalm, to the rubber plant, and bananas. 

From one country to another A^arying degrees of temperature, 
moisture, and rainfall — that is, of climate — may be noted, but in all 
cases cacao requires a moist atmosphere, a temperature between 70° 
and 90° F,, a firm, deep soil, and shade. This is the rule reported 
from such widely separated parts of the world as Mexico, Trinidad, 
Ecuador, Ceylon, and Samoa. Climate must be carefully studied 
before a successful plantation can be expected. Two other condi- 
tions are equally as important as climate; these are drainage and 
shade. Whether the land should be flat or on a hillside is a question 



world's PUODVCTION . 
- i©07 — 




for the planter and agriculturist, as is also the character of drainage 
best suited to any particular spot, but in any event it must have drain- 
age, because the roots and the trunk will not stand more than a lim- 
ited amount of water, and continuous soaking seems to injure the 
tree and its fruit, even if it does not destroy the grove. Shade of 
some kind is acknowledged by practically all experienced planters 
to be necessary for the cacao tree. It is not a hardy plant, capable of 
fighting against odds in a tropical forest ; Avherever it has been found 
in its wild state, it has been under the protection of a taller tree that 
kept off both the fierce rays of the sun and the destroying blasts of the 
hurricane. These natural safeguards must, therefore, be preserved 
on a plantation, although just what shade is best offers a perennially 
fertile topic for discussion at meetings of agricultural societies. The 
banana has its place, as has also the rubber tree, and it is a well- 
known fact that cacao grows excellently on ground which has pre- 



474 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS. 

viously been occupied by rubber trees. As popular (and surely as 
poetic) a shade as any is the Immortelle, the Madre del Cacao, which 
is particularly available in the cultivated plantations about the 
Caribbean Sea. 

The distance which should separate the cacao trees to get the best 
results Avhen they arrive at full bearing maturity is thoroughly set- 
tled. Dej)ending, of course, upon local conditions, trees should be 
planted at from 12 to 24 feet apart, Avhich allows about 300 to 150 
trees to the acre. 




A BRANCH OF CACAO TODS, ILLUSTRATIVK OF THE fiKOWTH OX THE BRANCHES. 

The cacao tree does not produce marketable fruit for several years 
after planting, but when once the pods can be gathered — and under 
careful cultivation a small crop may be expected at the end of the 
fourth year — the yield is a progressively increasing one until full 
maturity at the tenth year is reached, after which the fruit is consid- 
ered the finest, and the tree may be kept in steady bearing for fully 
a generation. 

This is all a matter of agriculture. In addition to the questions of 
soil and shade, of protection and climate, other important details de- 
mand the constant attention of the agriculturist. These relate to 
fertilization, to grafting, and to particular varieties of the plant. 




GATHERING CACAO PODS. 
(Copyright — Underwood & Underwood.) 



476 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 

Subordinate questions relate to seasons for picking, methods 
employed, and to preparation of the fruit for the market. 

When this stage is reached the agricultural problem gives phn.'e to 
the commercial one. 

The commercial problem involves the best method of treating the 
cacao bean so that it will bring the highest price and produce the 
best chocolate and the most nutritious cocoa for the palates of the 
consuming Avorld. The fruit of the tree, in which the seeds lie 
buried, is a melon or cucumber shaped '' pod," 7 to 10 inches long and 
8 to 4^ inches thick. The rind is hard and tasteless, varving in color 




A COLLECTION OF CACAO PODS. 

from yellow to red and purple, and marked by about ten longitudinal 
ridges, with deep grooves between them. The interior is divided into 
cells, each containing a row" of seeds embedded in a soft, pinkish, 
acid pulp which can be used as food. These beans are the size of a 
thick, sweet almond, and are in this state the cacao beans or the raw 
cacao of commerce. 

When the fruit or pods are ripe — and a picking usually takes 
place twdce a year, for the tree may have on it buds, flowers, and 
fruit all at the same time — they are severed from the branches by 
skilled gatherers, who reach up to them with a long, pruned-shaped 




CACAO GATHERERS RETURNING FROM WORK. 
(Copyright — Underwood Sc Underwood.) 



478 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS. 

knife so arranged that it can cut oS the ripe fruit without injuring 
am" adjacent green pods. The gathered pods are left in heaps upon 
the ground for a day or so, when they are cut open; the seeds are 
then taken out and carried to the place where they are cured or 
sweated. 

The curing process is as delicate as it is for coffee and tea, and upon 
the results obtained depend to a great extent the quality and rich- 
ness of the powder sold for consumption. The older way was to 
spread the beans in the shallow pans exposed to the sun, and in a 
sense sun-cured beans produce a better article; but later methods 
require expensive buildings in Avhich to bring about the result. 
Curing consists of two steps, the first being the fermentation, the 



- C>XCAO- 

WORLO'S COKSVMPTION. . 
- 190*2 - 




second the drying. The object of fermentation is to remove tlie 
sugary pulp surrounding the seeds, to promote chemical changes 
Avithin the kernels, to convert the bitter astringent taste into a sweet 
one, and to improve the color and flavor of the bean itself. All 
this may take from two to eight days, and only experts can tell when 
the proper stage has arrived for the discontinuance of the process. 
The beans are then washed, as a rule, although claim is made by some 
that Avashing is unnecessary and also reduces the weight of the 
marketed article. After washing they are dried by the sun or by 
hot-air blasts, this drying process gradually changing the bean into 
the finished product, when the surface of the bean has a bright 
reddish-brown color, the kernel a broAvn, or " chocolate." color in- 
ternally, and when the parts are friable and show no signs of 
moisture or unevenness on breaking. 




CURING AND DRYING CACAO BEANS. 

The beans are "shelled," like peas, from the pod. 

(Copyright — Underwood & Underwood.) 



480 INTEENATIONAL BUREAU OF THE AMEEICAjST REPUBLICS. 



The cacao beans are now ready for shipment. They are collected 
into bag:s, carried on board vessels waiting for them, and transported 
to the markets at which the best prices are obtainable. The largest ^ 
markets to-day are those of Hamburg, Rotterdam. I^ondon, Lislwn, 
Havre, and Ncav York. An interesting illustration of the spread of 
an industry is given by the expanding area over which the produc- 
tion of cacao can be traced. Originally a native of Mexico, Central 
and South America, it was introduced into the West Indian Islands 
very soon after the invasion of the New World, From there it was 
carried to the East Indies, then down the African coast, and now it 
is grown in all parts of the earth where climatic conditions are 
favorable. In Mexico, all the Central American republics and 
Panama, in Venezeula, Ecuador, Brazil, certain areas of Colombia 
and Peru, in Cuba, the British West Indies, in Haiti and especially 



WORLD'S PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION.- 



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the Dominican Ivepublic, cacao growing has long been a recognized 
industry. In the insular possessions of the United States, Guam, and 
the Philippines, nuich encouragement is given to efforts to establish 
plantations, Avhile in HaAvaii and Porto Rico the crop seems to be 
promising a successful addition to their export opportunities. 

Cacao is one of the few crops of the world the home consumption 
of which has apparently little concern with the quality or the amount 
of what is sent away. Although chocolate of the most delicious 
flavor can be obtained in the cafes of Caracas, and the peoples of 
cacao countries partake of it both as a stimulant and as a delicacy, 
it is really displaced in popular taste by coffee, and to get the full 
flavor of the food and drink it is necessary to go to the northern 
countries of the world for the finished product. An important ex- 
planation for this fact is that the bean, unlike coffee, no longer serves 



CACAO. 



481 



as the direct source of the drink; cacao has become a factory product, 
and after reaching foreign centers must be further prepared for 
individual consumption. The consumption of cacao bears no relation 
either to the source of supply or to markets in which it is sold. The 
accompanying table will show the proportionate absorption of the 
raw cacao bean, but public taste is the deciding factor in the disposal 
of chocolate and cocoa, so that Dutch cocoa meets with favor in 
England, English cocoa has a high selling power in the United 
States, and American and French chocolate sell all over the world. 




CURING THE CACAO BEAN. 

On some estates large warehouses are built and equipped especially for curing the beans under 

uniform conditions. 

When the beans arrive at the factory in Holland, Spain, or the 
United States they are blended to get the best smoothness and richness 
of taste. This is a matter of skill and judgment, and upon the blend 
depends the character of any particular brand. The beans are next 
roasted, also a critical process; then they are crushed and the shells 
winnowed from the nibs. These nibs contain the real flavor. They 
must be ground to the fineness of flour, and at the end of this reduc- 
tion process they have become a viscous liquid like molasses. This 
liquid condition is due to the presence in the nibs of an oily substance 
called '' cocoa (cacao) butter,'^ and up to this point all products from 



482 INTERNATIONAL BUREAU OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS. 

cacao are practically the .same. The ditt'erence between chocolate and 
cocoa, as it is known to the trade, is due to this cacao butter. It is 
retained in the chocolate, but for cacao it is squeezed out of the pul- 
verized nibs, and thus becomes a commercial product of itself. 

If chocolate is wanted, the ground nibs in the semifluid state are 
poured into molds and allowed to harden into cakes, or if sweetened 
chocolate is to be prepared, sugar and some flavoring like vanilla is 
added before the formation of cakes. 

If cocoa is wanted, the " butter " is expressed, the remaining pow- 
der again ground, dried thoronghl}^, and is then ready for canning. 
Cacao is said to be more digestible than chocolate, the reason being 
that the cacao butter, although in itself an easily assimilable fat, 
somewhat retards the diges'tive process of the latter. 

Both preparations have stimulating and nutritive qualities. The 
nutritive value depends upon the oils and vegetable ingredients of 
the bean, for the drink is more than a decoction like cofl'ee or tea. 
It is rather a solution in which all nutritive factors are retained. 
The stimulant value is due to the alkaloid theobromin, almost, if 
not quite, identical with catfein, the active principal of coffee and 
tea. '' Theobromin " is a word formed by analogy from the botanical 
name of the plant, which is " theobroma cacao '' — food for the gods. 

Cacao has one feature which at the present may commend it to 
those seeking a home in the Tropics — its production seems in general to 
lag behind consumption, or, in other words, popular taste throughout 
the world is being educated up to chocolate and cacao faster than the 
supply increases. This does not necessarily signify that the price of 
the bean is rising, but in proportion to the demand the production 
keeps on the favorable side of the market. 




LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



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